PayMate raises $9 million from Mayfield, KPCB, Sherpalo Ventures

Mobile payment company PayMate India has raised $9 million in its second round of investment led by Mayfield Fund and participation from existing investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Buyers and Sherpalo Ventures. In the first round of investment, PayMate had received $5 million from KPCB and Sherpalo in July 2006.

Mobile payment company PayMate India has raised $9 million in its second round of investment led by Mayfield Fund and participation from existing investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Buyers and Sherpalo Ventures. In the first round of investment, PayMate had received $5 million from KPCB and Sherpalo in July 2006.

PayMate operates in the arena of electronic payment solutions to enable transactions on mobile phones and wireless devices for Indian and global markets. The two year old company has partnered with 13 global and Indian banks including IDBI Bank, Corporation Bank, Cosmos Bank, Bank of Ceylon, HDFC, Standard Chartered Bank, Canara Bank and ABN Amro to introduce m-banking solutions for their customers.

PayMate has also allied with telecom service providers like Tata Indicom and airlines like Kingfisher to enable its subscribers book flight tickets on the mobile. The company has also launched a mobile gift voucher, Gift Mate. PayMateâ€™s latest initiatives include utility bill and LIC insurance premium payments.

Nikhil Khattau, managing director, Mayfield Advisors, has said, â€œWe believe mobile electronic payments and remittances are the way of the future in India and we believe PayMate is the leader in this category. PayMate has figured out how to unleash the potential of the phone which is becoming the primary transaction terminal for the over 260 million mobile users in India.â€

â€œReceiving investments from global blue chip players like Mayfield Fund, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Buyers and Sherpalo Ventures is a great recognition for our company and what we have achieved in a short period of time,â€ PayMate has said. â€œWe believe that the global knowledge and experience of our investors will help us scale our business strategically.â€